The Circle
by Odins.Legacy
Summary: AU: Instead of having an abortion when she was fifteen, Emily Prentiss gave her baby up for adoption and having to do it haunts her constantly. But what if she got a chance to see her child, after so many years? What if?... Don't own Criminal Minds.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: The synopsis says it all. Trying to keep as historically and factually accurate as possible_

Chapter One

"... So what've we got, JJ?" Agent Aaron Hotchner asked the blonde BAU liasion.

"A series of rapes and murders of young women," JJ replied, clicking her remote to change pictures on the white board in the BAU conference room. "At first there was no evidence to tie these crimes together since they were all over the state, but they've now seemed to have found their comfort zone, as the last three have all been from there, while the rest were, of course, in separate cities, counties..."

"They're all blondes," Dr. Spencer Reid noted, "so it's evident that he has a type."

"Local PD said that these bodies were at dump sites - there's evidence of the bodies being moved post-mortum," JJ added.

"So he has a hide-out," Agent Derek Morgan piped in.

"Likely. Where are we going?" Agent David Rossi asked.

"Denver," was her solmn reply.

Agent Emily Prentiss' spine went rigid and a million thoughts raced through her head, _No, not Denver... _

"Okay everyone, wheels up in twenty," Hotch said finally, then saw the look on Emily's face. "Emily, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, Hotch, I'm fine..." was her shaky reply, "just... wow. What these girls had to go through..."

Hotch wasn't convinced, but seeing as they needed to board the jet soon, he couldn't really stand around playing guessing games. Everyone exited the conference room and went to their respective cubicles and offices to grab their go-bags.

On the plane, Emily sat apart from the others after the team was briefed a bit more, taking advantage of her alone time. She put in her earbuds and put her iPod on shuffle as she pulled a small, old photograph from her wallet. Her eyes teared up a little bit and her mind was racing.

_Denver's too big, there's no way you would ever run into her... besides, how would you recognize her? She's 23 now. And she hasn't found you... _

She shook her head and put the photo away, intent on enjoying her music and chilling a little before they touched down.

Touchdown came all too quickly for the whole team as they split up into smaller teams to cover more ground faster. It was Emily and Morgan's job to go to the last victim's apartment and ask her room mate some questions, as well as look for some clues as to anyone who might have recently came into her life and could have done this.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team went to the police station to get a little more insight and start setting up their center where they could meet and have Garcia phone them with break throughs she managed to make.

The police chief was a short, red haired man named Bryan Danes. He hadn't been police chief for very long, but seemed very proud of his line of work just based on how he presented himself to others.

"Hi, I'm Jennifer Jareau, we spoke on the phone," she extended her hand to him.

"I'm so glad you all are here. This son of a bitch is proving really hard to catch," Chief Danes replied with a shake of his head. "'S got everyone around here torn up. Most of them have caught on that all the vic's were blonde and some of the women are either dying their hair or just plain panicking. I can't have my people this worked up."

"Rest assured we're going to do everything we can," Hotch said to the man, hoping to calm him a little.

"These are Agents Hotchner, Reid, and Rossi; our other two agents are out in the field questioning the last victim's room mate," JJ made introductions.

"Ah, good. Poor Claire; she and Sarah, the last victim, were such good friends..." Chief Danes shook his head.

"Hopefully she'll be able to give the other agents insight about her life and maybe even some information about our UnSub..." Hotch said.

"Was there any DNA or any other kind of evidence left on the victims?" Reid asked.

Chief Danes shook his head, "Nothing on the others, though Sarah's still being processed and we haven't gotten any word back yet."

"Maybe he got sloppy and left us a clue," Rossi suggested hopefully.

Meanwhile, Emily and Morgan were already inside Claire and Sarah's apartment, asking Claire questions and looking through Sarah's things as gently as possible. Claire informed them that her parents were coming for her belongings soon.

"If it turns out her computer or diary may hold any clues, we'll have to at least take those for now," Emily said quietly.

Clarie nodded. "Sarah was really pretty, you know... there were lots of guys who would've loved to have been with her. I just can't believe that someone would do something like _that_ to her..." her eyes welled with tears.

Emily rubbed her arm as Morgan looked through drawers and shelves looking for a diary, "I know this is hard for you, but as much information as you can give us will bring us that much closer to catching her killer."

Claire nodded, "There was this one guy she was seeing about a month ago... he seemed kinda, I dunno... weird."

"Weird how?" Morgan looked up from his search, concluding that she had no physical diary.

"Like, he wasn't really comfortable around other people... and sometimes I'd hear him yelling at her. She didn't talk about him much, but when they broke up I know she was glad for it," Clarie replied.

"What was his name?" Emily asked.

"Um... Anthony... Mullins. Anthony Mullins. Yeah, that's it. I remember he wore his work shirts a lot and they had his last name on them..."

"Okay, thank you very much, Claire. For now, we're gonna take her computer just in case she may have talked to the guy we're looking for online before she left the apartment that night," Emily told the young woman.

Claire nodded, "I'll tell her family if they happen to come by. I'm sure they'll understand. Do you think Anthony might've done it?..."

"Honestly, we don't know," Morgan replied as he picked up Sarah's laptop, "but if he is, we'll find out."

The two agents walked out of the apartment and headed back to the station with the computer.

"Claire's really struggling with this..." Emily said, shaking her head. "Poor girl..."

"Yeah... her best friend raped and murdered, and she's blonde too, so she's gotta be scared out of her mind, too," was Morgan's reply.

"These are times so many women dread being the mother of a daughter... because of all the bad things that could happen..."

Morgan looked at her and understood immediately, "You worry about her every case we get, don't you?"

Of course he knew; when she had confessed to being pregnant at fifteen and giving the child up for adoption, it was him she had been talking to.

"I do..." she sighed, trying to push it from her mind. "But I have a feeling... she's okay. I dunno if that's mother's intuition or what. Seeing as I was never really a _mother..._"

Morgan was silent for a moment, "You know, if ever you wanna take some time..."

She shook her head, "She may not even know she was adopted. And if she did she probably doesn't wanna see the mother who gave her up for the dignity of her family."

"Now you stop that, Prentiss. You were a fifteen year old girl. Most girls in your place would've done the same thing. You wanted the best for her and that's the most wonderful gift a parent can give a child," Morgan replied, surprised at himself for saying something that sentimental.

She nodded, trying to take Morgan's words to heart and believe that she _was_ a good mother for letting her baby girl go. But even though many other people had told her that, she could never quite convince herself of that when she managed to creep back into the forefront of her mind. And with them being in so close of a proximity of where she might still be living, it was near impossible to keep her small, peaceful face from her mind and all the guilt that came along with it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Alright, got it, thanks," Hotch said into his phone, hanging up and calling Garcia immediately, "Emily and Morgan may have a lead; the last victim's ex boyfriend appeared to be overly aggressive and possibly abusive."

The others looked at each other as Hotch got Garcia on the phone.

"O Captain, my captain!" Garcia said in her usual way. Her red hair was hald up, half down with light curls and a couple of curled tendrills framing her face.

"Garcia, I want you to look up the current location of an Anthony Mullins, as well as his criminal record," Hotch said evenly to the technical analyst.

"Got it - we thinking this scum-bag may be the one?" she questioned.

"Could be, he certainly fits the MO. Considering that his break-up with Sarah could've been the trigger, then he began killing girls that look like her - maybe finally leading up to his initial target," Hotch replied.

"Gotcha, I'm on it now!" Garcia then hung up, typing furiously and searching her screen intently for answers.

Morgan and Emily made it into the police station just as Hotch was hanging up with Garcia.

"Chief Danes, these are Agents Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss," Hotch made introductions of the only two agents the chief hadn't met.

"Nice to meet you both," he shook their hands, his eyes lingering on Emily's face for a few moments with furrowed brows too long before snapping out of it, "sounds like we could have a good lead here."

"Got on the wire with Garcia?" Morgan asked.

Hotch nodded, "In the meantime, let's continue looking over the victimology."

"Every one of the victims' families claimed that something was missing from the victim; when we interviewed Sarah's parents, they asked where her diamond necklace was. We didn't have it, so apparently the UnSub is also taking trophies," Reid said of a recent discovery he and JJ had made earlier.

JJ nodded, "And Rachael McInnis' husband noticed while going through her belongings that her nametag for work was missing."

"Okay, so when we get to Mullins' place, someone should stay behind and look for the trophies," Hotch concluded, "good work."

Emily hadn't been unaware of Chief Danes' intense stare. For some reason she couldn't shake it off, either. It hadn't freaked her out, rather confused. She watched him from her station where she was working for a few moments trying to understand what it was that was confusing her so much about the Police Chief.

Suddenly he rounded the corner and came back, Emily getting her eyes back to her work and trying to act as if she hadn't been staring at him.

"Your Garcia's on line three," he said, pressing the conference phone button.

"Go ahead, Baby Girl," Morgan chimed.

"Alright, looks like Anthony Mullins has had his share of trouble; a couple of years ago he was charged with stalking, and, get this, he just barely missed being charged for assault with a deadly weapon," Garcia said quickly.

"Barely missed?" Reid questioned, confused.

"Well he claimed that it was self-defense and managed to get off that scott-free. Loser..." Garcia mumbled.

"Definitely sounds like our guy," Morgan said, "got an address for me, Mama?"

"Sure do!"

Garcia spouted off the address and everyone took off for the SUV's and police cars out into the late afternoon, making their move in on Anthony Mullins' apartment complex.

FBI vests on and guns toted, everyone jumped out of their vehicles, alerting everyone that they encountered around the apartment complex to keep calm and not to make a fuss so as not to scare off their possible UnSub.

When they reached his door they gathered around it, waiting for sound or anything to indicate that he was possibly home. Nothing was heard so Morgan tried the doorknob. It wouldn't open, so he gave the motion for everyone to back up and counted off to three before kicking in the door.

Hotch went in first, followed by Rossi, Morgan, Reid, Emily, and Chief Danes. They split off silently in different directions to make sure no one was home. Shouts of "Clear!" could be heard from different areas of the apartment, but then Morgan came upon a closed door. Reid was covering him, and they both heard the light sound of a stereo.

"Anthony Mullins, FBI, open this door!" Morgan shouted, his gun aimed and ready to shoot if he had to.

Nothing.

"_Anthony Mullins, FBI, open the door now!_" he shouted one more time. Upon hearing nothing, he backed up and indicated to the others to surround the door, then motioned to Reid to open the door quickly.

Morgan walked in to find Anthony Mullins barely waking from sleep, "Anthony Mullins! FBI, get out of that bed and get on the ground!"

"What the hell, man?" Anthony questioned angrily as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I said get outta that bed and get on the _ground!_" Morgan came over to him and threw him out of the bed, reaching behind him and handcuffing the younger man.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Anthony practically shouted.

"You're under arrest for the alleged murder of Sarah Bryan and possibly many other women," Hotch explained calmly.

"What the fuck is this?! I didn't kill Sarah!"

"We'll talk about it at the station," Morgan said roughly as he herded the young man out of the door, out of the apartment, and out the front door, getting him thrown into the Police Chief's car.

"Reid, you and Rossi stay here and look for any of the trophies listed as missing from the families, here's the list JJ complied during the interviews," Hotch instructed.

"You got it," Rossi replied, he and Reid going back into the apartment to look around.

Meanwhile, on the curb outside a large two-story house, a young blonde with bouncy curls and bright blue eyes was getting out of her car. She pulled her purse further up on her shoulder as she subconciously jingled her keys in her hand. She walked past a blue SUV, thinking nothing about it to take a shorter route to cut across her front yard to the front door

Suddenly, a pair of black gloved hands reached out from the hatch-back and grabbed the girl and she dropped the keys to the ground. He got a hand over her mouth just before she could scream. A black skii mask looked around, making sure no one had seen what had just transpired and quickly shut the door. His hands could be seen first duct taping the girl's mouth, then quickly tying her limbs as she struggled against him. Every time she struggled, kicked, or hit, he would smack her hard across the face, "That's _enough!_" he said in a gruff tone of voice. Tears ran down her face as he finished tying his knots, then roughly shoved her asside and climbed over all the other seats to the driver's seat, then took off his skii mask and cranked up the SUV, going out quickly as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing so far, it's very appreciated and keeps me motivated to write more. ;) _

Chapter Three

Hotch was giving Anthony Mullins a hard time in the interrogation room, all the while having JJ come in periodically to hand him papers or something to gauge his reaction seeing as she was blonde.

Morgan and Emily stood on the other side of the interrogation room's mirror looking in.

"All that I'm getting off of this guy right now is that he's defiant and has a major attitude problem," Emily confessed, crossing her arms and shaking her head.

"Well those were pretty good tip-offs for the UnSub. Let's just hope we do have the right guy in custody," was Morgan's reply.

Back at the apartment, Reid and Rossi were looking through Anthony Mullins' belongings, trying to locate any of the trophies or anything else that could implicate him.

"Hey Reid, he's got a lap top in here," Rossi called to Reid, who had previously been in the living room. Reid found Rossi in what had been a spare bedroom somewhat converted into a messy, highly dysfunctional office space.

"Okay, I'll see if I can't get into it," was Reid's reply. Rossi nodded and headed off to check out the rest of the apartment.

Reid turned on the computer and allowed it to go through its initial startup process, hoping that this guy hadn't guarded it with a password. Luckily he hadn't and his desktop began to load up.

While waiting for everything to load, Reid took the opportunity to glance around the room. Much like the rest of the apartment, it was disorganized and amiss. This wasn't what the initial profile they had worked up right before hearing about Mullins suggested, but it was possible that despite being a mess at home, it didn't necessarily mean that he was a sloppy killer.

The desktop loaded and he checked everything, looking for possible footage, pictures, or anything of any of the victims. None of these things was he unable to cover in the hour that he scoured the computer. But he did find something that he thought was noteworthy and called Hotch at the station.

"Hotchner."

"Hotch, I think I may have found something in Anthony's computer. Apparently he belongs to a long list of hard-core BDSM websites," Reid reported to his boss.

"Alright, have you and Rossi found anything else in the house?"

Rossi walked in around that time and Reid looked to him expectantly. Rossi shook his head and Reid replied, "No, nothing here to suggest that the women were ever here."

"Well we'll go with what we have for right now. Just because nothing physical is there doesn't mean he doesn't have it hidden somewhere else. Good work."

Hotch hung up the phone and walked back into the interrogation room where he had left Mullins after a rather loud shouting match. When Hotch brought up the BDSM websites, Mullins looked at him as if he were an idiot, "Yeah, what's wrong with a guy wanting to get his rocks off?!"

Emily rolled her eyes and made a disgusted sound as she walked away, "I can't hear any more of this jackass..."

She almost managed to bump square into Chief Danes. "Sorry, Agent Prentiss," he said awkwardly, hardly looking at her.

"It's alright..." was her quiet reply.

"How's the interrogation going?" the chief asked, trying to ease up the tension.

"Well he's a first class jackass from what we're getting so far..." Emily replied, but was suddenly cut off when they heard shouting from the police station's bullpen.

"_Bryan!! Where's Bryan?!_"

Chief Danes went running into the bullpen, Emily not far behind.

"Oh Bryan, something's wrong! Katrina's gone!!" exclaimed a waif woman with light brown hair and blue eyes, no more than five foot tall.

"Katrina? Gone? Are you sure she didn't just go to a friend's house?" Chief Danes questioned who Emily could only presume was his wife.

"Sammie got home before I did and saw Katrina's car parked in front of the house - but her _keys were on the ground!_" his wife choked tearfully.

It was then that Emily noticed the tall, lanky deep brunette standing next to the police chief's wife chewing her fingernails and a worried look in her dark eyes as she looked toward her father. Emily had to keep her jaw from hanging open as she looked this girl up and down.

"It's got to be the rapist! It's got to be!!" Chief Danes's wife continued, tears running down her face.

"But we've got someone in custody that looks like a good suspect," Chief Danes tried to reassure his wife. "And besides that, she's only sixteen! He doesn't take girls that young!"

Chief Danes' wife broke down and he took her asside, trying to calm her down. The brunette young woman stood where she was, looking around the bullpen and removing her very stubby thumbnail from her teeth.

"Sammie? Hi, I'm Agent Emily Prentiss, I'm with the FBI; would you like something to drink or anything?" Emily broke the silence between them, her voice cracking.

The young woman looked into her eyes and it hit Emily very hard, _It's like I'm staring at myself fifteen years ago..._

Her hair was cut to about shoulder-length and her bangs were parted and growing out. Before she could really analyze the girl any further, she replied with a husky voice, "Sure."

Emily led her over to the water cooler and got her a cold plastic cup of water, then guided the both of them over to a couple of chairs to sit in.

"So from what I heard, you got home first and saw your sister's car was home, but the keys were on the ground?" Emily asked, trying not to stare at the girl.

Sammie nodded, "Yeah; I knew something was wrong because even though Katrina can be a little ditzy, she would never just drop her keys like that... I mean, they were right there beside her car, almost in the middle of the road. I noticed spin-out marks right in front of her car, too..."

"And your sister's sixteen? Blonde, I assume, since your mom's worried about her having been taken by the rapist?"

"Yeah," was Sammie's reply.

Emily nodded, sneaking a glance at her while taking notes, then looked back at her again, asking her a few more questions.

Across the bullpen, Chief Danes had put out an alert for his missing daughter; he noticed his wife staring at Agent Prentiss and their daughter, Samantha.

"I heard her introduce herself to Sammie as Emily Prentiss..." his wife said in a shaky voice, resulting from her having cried so much.

"Yes," Chief Ganes replied.

"Samantha's...?"

"I believe it."

"Does she know?"

"I can't say for sure..."

Hotch then came out with Morgan and JJ, walking to the chief.

"Well, how did it go?" Chief Danes asked.

Hotch shook his head, "This isn't our guy..."

"I told you, Bryan! He got her!!" the chief's wife exclaimed in agony.

"Whoa whoa, what happened?" Morgan asked.

"Our daughter's missing; our other daughter got home and discovered her keys laying in the road beside her car," Chief Danes replied. "But she's only sixteen..."

"What could've caused a change in his MO?" Morgan wondered to the others.

"I've got it on the horn that she's missing," Chief Danes said, "and your Agent Prentiss has been interviewing my other daughter."

"Katrina's always looked older than she really is," Chief Danes' wife replied, "it's almost gotten her into trouble before..."

"Alright; team, let's get Reid and Rossi back here and start putting together the profile from what we know," Hotch said, all the while walking back to their designated area of the police station, "and let's make it quick, this girl may not have a lot of time."


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Thanks everyone for all the favorites and the reviews. Like I've said before, they're very much appreciated and keep me motivated to keep writing. :) Hope you all enjoy this chapter!_

Chapter Four

The team gathered the officers in the bullpen of the station as they prepared to give their profile of the UnSub.

"The man we're looking for is full of extreme anger and uses force and sneak-attacks to get to his victims," Morgan began.

"Our latest victim is younger than all of the rest as of yet, but she fits the victimology of the other women; blonde, blue eyes, fit," Hotch continued, "it could be that we're dealing with someone who's suffered a loss of someone who fits this description. Wife, girlfriend... something's made him snap and begin hunting women with these traits."

"The fact that his latest victim, Katrina Danes is only sixteen shows that he's devolving, which means that he's a bigger threat now than he's ever been," Reid explained, "he's more dangerous and 'blood thirsty' so to speak."

"If he's not caught soon, this girl may become one of his next casualties, as well as possibly the initial target of his rage," Rossi began the ending statement, "with him devolving, it's more likely now than ever that he'll actually go after the source of his stressor."

"We're looking for a male in his late twenties to early forties. He's someone you wouldn't expect; he doesn't stalk his victims. He hunts, and whichever looks to be the best match, ends up being his next victim," Prentiss finished.

"Alright, let's split up and cover the demographic profile that Dr. Reid's complied," Chief Danes said, dismissing his officers and turning a worried face to the FBI agents.

"Chief Danes, we can't fathom how you and your wife must feel right now..." JJ began softly.

Chief Danes nodded, "Thank you for everything you all have been doing. If you'll excuse me, please, I'm going to see my wife before heading out."

The team nodded as he dismissed himself and headed quickly to his office.

"That poor man..." JJ sighed, then spoke into the conference phone, "hey, Garcia, have you found anyone that fits our UnSub's description that's committed any petty crimes, lewd behavior, anything?"

"Nope, search is turning up cold. And I mean seriously. Anyone that could have been a potential suspect is either in jail or dead," was Garcia's grim reply.

"Okay, well keep trying and let us know if you find anything."

"You got it, beautiful."

As JJ disconnected with Garcia and the team looked to each other, the police chief's older daughter, Samantha, watched every move Emily made from her seat on the other side of the station. Her dark eyes were a combination of fear for her younger sister and curiosity.

When Katrina woke up from the last blow that the masked man had given her, she opened her eyes groggily and looked around in sudden fear. Everything that had happened up until that point ran through her mind like a horror movie as she discovered herself bound and lying on a bed in a very empty, cold apartment bedroom.

Tears began streaming down her face, her teeth trying to bite through to the duct tape over her mouth.

Suddenly the door to the bedroom banged open and the man who kidnapped her came in. He was in his mid thirties at least with blonde hair and evil looking green eyes. A smirk came over his face as his eyes met hers and she tried to turn away.

"Well hey there, Princess... wanna have some fun?" he walked over to the bed and ran a finger down her jaw. She flinched and felt bile come up in her throat.

He reached to begin taking her pants off, but through her tears she bucked and kicked as much as she could considering that she was bound and tied, trying to scream only to achieve muffled sounds of agitation.

"Hey, calm down, bitch!" he smacked her across the face, leaving a large red handprint on her left cheek. More tears ran down her face as she continued fighting.

Suddenly, her wallet fell out of her back pocket and he reached down to pick it up.

When he got a look at her driver's license, his eyes widened. He looked between her and the license and his thoughts immediatelty went to a little blonde girl, no more than ten years old with bright blue eyes. Just like her mothers...

"Oh... god..." he stumbled away from the young girl. She didn't _look_ sixteen! But upon a second look, with her makeup mostly run off of her face, she indeed looked much younger than upon her initial appearance.

He had to escape. He had to get her out of here... and get at _her_ once and for all. But he couldn't risk this girl leading the police to him. He paced the room for what seemed like an eternity trying to figure out what to do with her; every time he thought of a way to kill her, his thoughts went back to his own little girl.

Finally, he decided. He would just leave her somewhere where no one would find her. No one... not even the police, whom he was sure were looking for her right now...

He looked over to see that she had passed out once again. Good, she would have no idea where she was and wouldn't be able to tell anyone anything just in case she _was_ found. After all, all she had to go on was a face. He roughly picked her up and carried her out into the dark of night to his SUV. He put her down on the ground for a moment and pulled on his skii mask.

But fortunately for her, Katrina hadn't really passed out. She'd pretended to do so like she'd seen on cop shows before and managed to catch a glimpse of his license plate number before quickly closing her eyes once again when she noticed him shift again.

The man picked up the girl and threw her into the back of the SUV, slammed the hatch-back and then went to the front of the vehicle, getting into the driver's seat

Once they were safely moving, Katrina opened her eyes and surveyed the hatch-back's door. Her father had taught her and her older sister years ago how to get out of the trunk of a car or the back of an SUV if ever they were kidnapped. She struggled with the restraints on her hands, stretching them to and fro. The problem with her restraints were that the ones tying her hands and feet were tied _together_ - making her almost in a circular bound shape. She also paid attention to the ride of the vehicle. Her best chance of escape and being found would be on a smooth ride. Finally, she managed to free one hand and felt for the lever that would free her.

_Aha! Okay, Katrina, you can do this. Open it and roll out. This is a main thoroughfare, there's no way he'll stop just to come back and get you... it would risk him getting caught. One, two,..._

She opened the hatch-back and used all her might to roll out of the SUV, landing with a scraping thud on the pavement.

"What the hell?..." the man looked back to see his hatch-back open. "Shit!" he sped up, thinking the girl still might be back there and that someone would see. So far he had gotten lucky and no one had gotten behind him. But how long would that luck last with his hatch open?

Katrina shook her head and made sure she was still alive by pinching herself. _Ouch! Yep..._ It was very dark out. She could hardly tell where she was, but when her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw a few familiar landmarks. She tried to get out of the middle of the road to avoid getting run over, but by the time she was almost halfway on the shoulder, she saw bright headlights of a car coming her way rather quickly. She squoze her eyes shut, praying hard that she at least got to say goodbye to her family and help the police catch the man who had kidnapped her before she died.

Brakes sounded with a loud, obnoxious squeal. She opened her eyes when she realized the vehicle had missed her, seeing bright blinking lights as well as red taillights. After a moment, a man in a Denver PD uniform was hovering over her, "Katrina!" he exclaimed, bending down to undo her restraints and help her up, "Are you okay?"

The duct tape came off of her mouth and all she could do was nod, breathing and realizing she was safe again.

"C'mon, let's get you into the car, I'll radio your dad and take you on to the hospital."

She nodded again, shaky on her feet as he guided her to the back of the patrol car and made sure she was comfortable before jumping back into the driver's seat.

He radioed into the Police Station and reported that he had Katrina alive and was heading to the hospital with her right then as he turned on his sirens. She heard her father radio in immediately, copying what had been said and went on his way to meet them at the hospital.

"I have his plate numbers..." the officer heard faintly from the back seat after he radioed in.

"You what?" he asked the girl.

She cleared her throat, "I've got his plates."

He paused for a moment, then radioed in again, "Yes, Katrina's just informed me that she has the perpetrador's plates..."

The BAU stood in awe as the officer on the radio gave them the UnSub's plates.

"Garcia, did you get that?" Hotch asked.

"Yep, I got it," she replied, waiting for the screen to tell her some good news. "Okay, I've got a name, Chris Welles."

"Right, you've got an address too?"

"You know it, Boss."

"Great, we'll call you from the car."

Everyone ran out into the blackness of the night, the only light being the Police Station's front lights. The BAU slipped on their FBI vests as they got into the big black SUV's and a few other police cars pulled out of the parking lot. Sirens and lights were going here, there, and everywhere into the pitch black.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Rossi, Hotch, and Reid as well as half of the police force took the address to Chris Welles' house that Garcia had given them. Meanwhile, Prentiss and Morgan, and the other half of the force went to the address that they suspected he might hit next; his ex wife's.

The sirens sounded and everyone talked over the radios, arranging plans and strategies, creating a mass chaos within.

Chris Welles drove like a maniac down the road he knew so well... past all the houses with families and people he used to call neighbors. But not anymore. No, she made all that disappear. She took away his life. Everything he had ever worked for, she'd taken it.

And what for? Because he liked to _drink?_ Last he had checked, drinking was legal, especially at his age. But no, no, it was a problem to her. Dammit, he was a _man!_ A man who needed to unwind once in awhile. His own voice roared in his head about the injustice that he felt in his blood. So what if he came home late from the bar a few times, at least he had enough sense to call a cab. At least she didn't have to worry about him being a drunk driver. No, she hated having a drunk husband lying around on the couch all the time.

So what if he laid around after a drink? He'd worked all day, putting food on the table for his family, he deserved it. He deserved it...

He pounded the steering wheel as he punched the gas pedal, then braking slightly when he rounded the bend and saw the familiar driveway. He quickly turned in, tires squealing. God, he hoped Clarissa wasn't home yet... she didn't need to see any more arguments between her mother and him.

Clarissa... his baby. The only good that came from that god-forsaken bitch. He sighed, parked the truck and jumped out, pistol in hand.

"Chris Welles, FBI!" Hotch exclaimed. Nothing came from inside the residence, so on three, one of the SWAT officers kicked in the door and everyone scattered around to different rooms, guns wielded.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

These shouts came from all around the house. "He's not here," Hotch said frantically, calling Morgan.

Morgan picked up his cell, still driving, "Yeah Hotch."

"Morgan, he's not at his house. We're sending the rest of the SWAT team to follow. Garcia saw they have a child and we want minimal loss, got it?" Hotch commanded.

"Right." Morgan closed his phone and relayed the information to Emily as they kept driving, a little faster now than before.

Welles walked in through the front door of what used to be his home; the house was still, but he knew she was home because her little sports car was parked in the driveway. All of a sudden, she rounded a corner with a laundry basket in her arms. "Chris, what're... oh my god!" she screamed and dropped the laundry when she saw the gun.

Outside, another car pulled up to the curb and let a young blonde girl out. She smiled and waved at the people inside as she slung her backpack over her shoulder. Young Clarissa Welles, just getting back from studying with a friend in time to help her mother make dinner.

"Chris, please don't do this, please..." his ex wife shrank against the wall behind her, grasping onto nothing and begging her ex husband for mercy as he pointed his gun at her.

"Shut up... just shut up!"

The door opened, "Mom, I'm - DADDY!!" Clarissa screamed in horror.

Chris wheeled around, horror on his face as well.

"Clarissa, run! Go get help!" her mother screamed.

"Shut up! You think I would hurt her? She's the only good thing I have left in this world!!" Chris exclaimed with tears in his eyes.

Clarissa still stood in the door, crying hard.

"Clarissa, honey, please get out of here!" her mother exclaimed through her own tears, not wanting her to see whatever would transpire.

"Clarie, do what your mother says, honey... no matter what happens, Daddy loves you, honey," Chris choked, cocking the gun one last time, causing his ex wife and daughter both to scream as the sound of sirens coming from every direction came from the open door.

Morgan saw the open door and a little blonde head standing in it; he, Prentiss, and SWAT went running toward the house. Clarissa turned and ran toward the agents just in time for...

_**BANG!**_

Emily took the crying little girl into her arms and guided her away from the house while Morgan and SWAT approached the house. Inside, they saw blood seeping into the beige carpet around Chris Welles. There was a bullet hole in his head and the gun was in his hand. His ex wife remained against the wall, crumpled into the floor sobbing.

"C'mon, Ms. Welles... let's get you out of here," Morgan said gently, stepping around Chris' body and guided her out the door.

She got out of the door and seemed to regain some of her composure when she saw her daughter standing talking to Emily.

"Clarissa!" she exclaimed.

"Mom!"

They ran to each other and embraced. Morgan walked past them and went to Emily, "Welles killed himself..."

Emily nodded, "His daughter said that she walked in and found her dad pointing the gun at her mom... poor kid. I can't imagine seeing something like that so young."

"He wasn't expecting her to be home. He was hoping for a clean kill because his daughter was never meant to be a victim."

"But she is... in one of the worst ways. She's seen all that and now she's lost her father."

Morgan called Hotch and let him know what was going on as an ambulance rode up and medics came to check out the mother and daughter, as procedure would have it, and another ambulance came to collect the body of Chris Welles.

The scene swirled past Emily in slow motion; watching Ms. Welles and her daughter together gave her that familar pang of pain she always felt when she thought of the little girl she gave up all those years ago. But now she also knew that she was in a loving family and was doing alright... she was just fine without her real mother. She wrapped her arms around herself against an unusual chill and sighed, her eyes glazing over for just the slightest second before Morgan started heading back toward the black SUV and she followed suit, quickly wiping her eyes as she climbed in.

Hotch, Rossi, and Reid stood at the hospital with the Police Chief, talking with him outside Katrina's hospital room while inside his wife sat with their daughter,a female cop, and a doctor. Their dark-haired daughter was standing in the doorway, not wanting to overwhelm her little sister too much, but a relieved smile was on her face. She was one tough kid and she was going to be okay.

She then turned to Reid, "Hey, Dr. Reid; do you suppose Agent Prentiss will go back to the police station before you all leave back for Quantico?"

The curiosity of her question crossed his face as he answered, "I believe she would... we've all gotta meet back there and fill out the preliminary reports for the station before heading back."

"Thank you... hey Dad, I'm gonna go talk to Agent Prentiss... and thank her for her help," she reguarded the chief seriously.

He nodded with a look of understanding that was beyond the others, "Alright, Sam."

She walked out of the hospital, taking her keys from her purse and walking toward her own car. She took a deep breath and got in, hoping that Dr. Reid was right and that she would be there...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

_A/N: Thank you all for your support and reviews on this story. I hope this chapter will be as good as the rest and won't disappoint!_

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Morgan and Prentiss were beginning to get their things together as they wrote their final statements and filled out the last bits of detailed paperwork they needed to do there at the station. All seemed quieter now that Chief Danes' daughter had been found and the UnSub was no more.

Prentiss' movements were slower than usual and her mind continued to wander to Samantha and their uncanny resemblance. Who would have guessed that she would've been able to pick out her own daughter? She had a feeling, deep down, that she would have known whether or not she was hers despite their mirror-image... mother's intuition, perhaps?

Despite what others had told her, she had never seen herself as maternal woman. Reid had made a comment on it once before after they got back from the dangerous Cult when he finally stopped looking at her black eye and blaming himself for what had happened to her. How mother-like in that situation she had become, not only towards him but towards the innocents involved.

"Reid, I don't think any part of me could be a mother even if I tried..." she had replied with a sigh, although that pain hit her almost as soon as she had said it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Morgan softly spoke to her.

"Em, you have a visitor."

She looked beyond Morgan's broad shoulders and saw Samantha standing there.

"Sammie, hi, how's your sister?..." she asked after a small, stunned silence.

Samantha nodded, "She's gonna be okay, Agent Prentiss, "thanks to you and the other agents."

Emily smiled and nodded herself, "I just wish we could get these guys before things go wrong."

This made Samantha smile as well, "True. But you all are the seeing-eye dogs of the police departments, the detectives, everyone who needs help but can't quite figure out the missing piece. That's where you all come in."

"Wow, very high praise coming from the police chief's daughter!" Emily played none-the-wiser, even though she knew parts of her speech must have sounded so faked.

"Um... adopted daughter, actually."

It was then that their eyes really met.

"You knew..."

"...and it didn't take a profiler to tell that you knew as well," was Samantha's reply to Emily's surprise.

Emily's surprised silence prompted Samantha to continue as they walked over to the side alone.

"To make a long story short, I found out a long time ago..." Samantha crossed her arms and licked her lips, "they told me I was adopted and weirdly enough I was okay with that. I knew what adoption was and figured, no offense, that I must've been better off for it."

Emily nodded, silently encouraging her to continue.

"Later on, when I was older, I asked about you and why... they told me, explained that you were young and a few more things about your situation. Needless to say, they cleared a lot up from what I had thought earlier on."

Samantha tucked a hair behind her ear, uncrossed her arms and continued.

"They even told me that you named me."

Emily couldn't control the tears brimming over in her eyes, "Yeah... I did. I hadn't meant to... but for those few precious seconds that I got to hold you, I -"

Samantha's own eye welled up and she dabbed at them lightly with her fingers, sniffling a tiny bit.

"You did what you thought was best for me. I know that now, I knew that when my parents told me."

Emily nodded, "As much as I wished I could've had you in my life, I can't say that I regret having given you a better life..."

"When I was eighteen I was able to, of course, access my records and found out more about my birth-mom, Emily Prentiss. I found out more about you online, found out when you had gotten into the Bureau..."

Suddenly, Emily saw as Hotch and the rest of the team came in, more than likely to fill out their paperwork and finish up their statements so they could all take off for home.

Samantha noticed this too and touched Emily's arm, "Um, I know you're about to leave and everything, but... is there any way you could stay a little while, maybe... We could go for coffe or something..."

Emily couldn't help but smile through the tears that were still building in her eyes, causing them to slightly spill over. She reached for a tissue and nodded, "I would like that, actually, yeah... I have to clear it with my boss, though."

Samantha nodded and smiled herself, trying to keep her own tears at bay as Emily batted at her eyes and walked up to Hotch.

"Hotch, I uh, was wondering if I was needed back immediately? Could I maybe catch up with the rest of you in a couple days or so? I can have my paperwork done and faxed to Quantico from a hotel..." Emily asked her boss quietly.

Morgan, who had witnessed the physical aspects of the scene, caught Hotch's eye from well behind Prentiss and nodded knowingly.

"I don't see why not. Take a little time, be back at work by Monday," Hotch replied with soft eyes.

Emily broke out into a smile, then controlled herself and nodded once, "Thank you, Hotch."

He spontaneously touched her arm, looking as if he was trying to control a smile of his own, "Take care, Prentiss. See you Monday."

She turned to grab her go-bag and met Morgan's eyes as she picked it up from the small desk she had been using. He was smiling and nodding; his way of wishing her the best.

The strap was thrown over her shoulder, she wiped any remaining tears away, and she walked out of the police station with a manilla envelope and Samantha at her side.

_Final Quote, Read in Prentiss' Voice: I know they say let it be, but it just dont work out that way. And the course of a lifetime runs over and over again. No I would not give you false hope on this strange and mournful day, but the mother and child reunion is only a motion away..._

**The End**


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